


Friends Worth Fighting

by Cavatica



Series: Animorphs Prompt Month [1]
Category: Animorphs (TV), Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Gen, Group Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cavatica/pseuds/Cavatica
Summary: October Animorphs Prompt 01: Group BondingAx has just joined the team and he's not quite comfortable with his new human teammates. Cassie reaches out to him to see what he needs. He suggests an Andalite bonding activity.





	Friends Worth Fighting

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [bleck](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleck/pseuds/Bleck) for organizing this prompt month and setting the prompts! Thanks to [LilacSolanum](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacSolanum/pseuds/LilacSolanum) who loves Ax and Cassie's beautiful friendship and who I am always happy to indulge. Please see [my tumblr](http://acavatica.tumblr.com) where I will be posting a new piece of writing or art everyday this month. Check out [the prompts at bleck's tumblr](https://miraculoussparrow.tumblr.com/post/164906900561/animorphs-prompts)!

“Okay, so, last time didn’t go… perfectly.” Cassie parted the branches to follow Ax along what could barely be called a path. He preferred to stick to the densest parts of the forest. That was totally understandable. If he was easy for Cassie to find, he’d be easy for the Yeerks to find, too.

But something told Cassie Ax was hiding from more than the Yeerks. The Animorphs were the only people he knew on the whole planet. He’d just found out his brother was dead. He needed to spend time with people. He needed to talk. He needed to get out of the forest.

‹Human instincts are very difficult to control,› Ax said curtly. He weaved through the forest with the natural grace of something that belonged there. Usually, Cassie thought she was pretty good at hiking. Better than most kids her age. But she was panting, trying to keep up with Ax.

“Yeah,” Cassie agreed between huffs. “I’m sure it was really scary demorphing in front of all those people. But we’ve all panicked in morph. We get it.”

Ax stopped suddenly. Cassie had to grab a tree branch to keep herself from bumping into him. He pointed a stalk eye at her. Even though she wasn’t great at interpreting Andalite expressions, especially the stalk eyes, Cassie thought she picked up something in it. Like the fact that she almost fell proved his point about two legs being inferior or something.

Or maybe his look meant something else.

She approached him carefully, like she would a hurt coyote or a skittish horse. She was careful not to touch him or even look like she was about to. If he were Rachel or Jake, she would have touched his arm to attempt to comfort him. But she had only seen Andalites make physical contact with a purpose. She couldn’t assume he’d be okay with that.

“I didn’t mean that we get what you’re going through,” she said gently. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like, being the only one of your species stranded on an alien planet.”

Ax turned toward her, enough to make eye contact, and she almost wished he hadn’t. He looked at her with eyes she couldn’t comprehend. She didn’t know if she was imagining it or not but it was almost like she could feel the deep, drowning sorrow. They thought they had rescued him from the bottom of the ocean, but to Ax, he might as well still be down there.

“I know… I know that we can’t get everything you’re going through. But we’re the only people you know. Humans are social animals. We have to spend time with each other to be okay.”

Ax hesitated. Then he acquiesced, ‹Andalites are, as well.›

Cassie gave him a slow smile. She still moved slowly, like he might just bolt any second. He definitely could, but Cassie chided herself for thinking of him like an animal. What she knew about animals couldn’t help her. Ax wasn’t just an alien, he was a person. She would have to figure him out on two levels – the level that she would have for any new species she’d never worked with before, and the level of someone she wanted to understand and hopefully become friends with.

“You should hang out with us again. We’ll take it slow this time. Get to know each other.”

‹This is not how Andalites get to know each other.› Ax looked stiff. He sounded skeptical. Or maybe disdainful. Cassie wasn’t really sure. The only “tone” she could read into his thought-speak was accompanied by the vague impressions of his feelings, and she had no way of knowing if his alien feelings even corresponded to human ones.

“Okay,” Cassie said, hoping at least Ax could recognize that she was being conciliatory. “What do Andalites do to get to know each other?”

‹We are all  _arisths_. At least, we are all fighting together.› He looked away again. ‹ _Arisths_  get to know each other through sparring.›

Cassie felt her eyebrows shoot up. She tried not to, but she glanced at Ax’s tail anyway. They’d all had a chance to see him in action. Even in battle morph, probably everyone but Rachel would be toast.

“Uh,” Cassie said, her mouth dry. “I guess I can ask the others if that’s something they’d be… interested in. If that’ll make you more comfortable with us.”

Ax didn’t say anything more, so Cassie picked her way through the forest back to her farm.

* * *

“I mean I guess we can morph away injuries, but don’t you think this idea is a little nuts?” Marco said, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “And we don’t even know if Space Man here is really cool. What if he just wants to cut us down, one by one?”

‹I already could have,› Ax said with no hint of humor or affection. Everyone looked at him for a few more seconds than he seemed to be comfortable with. ‹The fact that I have not was supposed to be a sign that I do not see the benefit of such action.›

“Oh, I feel so much better,” Marco said. “Thanks for easing my worries, Spock.”

‹You are welcome.›

Marco turned to Jake and gestured at Ax like  _what do you expect me to do with this?_  Jake shrugged. They had all gathered in a clearing about a mile from the farm. They had only worn their morphing outfits. Marco had griped the whole way. Cassie had hoped he would at least be cool when they got to Ax, but of course she had no such luck.

Cassie stepped forward, holding out a hand to Ax. He just looked down at it and then back up at her. She shoved her hand in her pocket. “So, um, I talked to Ax. As you know. Ax, you said you wanted to uh, spar with us? What were you expecting? Did you want us to morph, or just…”

Ax snorted. Was that how Andalites laughed? ‹Do not worry, I did not expect you to attempt to fight me in your human bodies.›

Rachel scoffed. “Okay, what are the rules?”

‹In the Academy the rules are that you must not use the sharp edge of your blade –›

“Animorphs, no teeth or claws,” Jake said

‹And you must fight honorably in accordance with the standard rules of combat.›

“No hitting below the belt,” Jake said.

Marco sputtered. “What belt? He has two waists!”

“I’m up first,” Rachel said eagerly. She was stretching out like she was preparing for a gymnastics meet.

‹Uh, how about you do this tournament-style? Pair up and the winners of the first match face each other in the second?› Tobias suggested.

“I pick bird-boy,” Marco said immediately.

‹If the rule is no claws, I can’t do much,› Tobias said.

“Exactly,” Marco said. “No offense, Ax, but I was never down with trust falls either. You’ll have to get to know me the old-fashioned way.” He walked over to the edge of the clearing, brushed off a big rock, and sat down on it. “Come on, Tobias, we can be the crazy fans on the sidelines. You cheer for Jake. I’ll cheer for Rachel.”

‹Uh.›

Marco laughed in a less-than-kind way. “Or we can do it the other way around if you prefer. I’m not picky. Wooo! Go Jake! Home team!” He pumped his fist in the air. Was it possible to pump a fist sarcastically? If it was, Marco was doing it.

Rachel rolled her eyes and took Cassie’s wrist, pulling her aside. That left Jake paired up with Ax for the first match. Cassie looked up at Rachel. Rachel smiled that sparkling,  _Teen Vogue_ smile.

“You ready?” she asked. She dropped into some kind of fighting stance, her long muscles suddenly wound taught.

Cassie felt a nervous giggle escape her throat. She trusted that her best friend wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, but the thought of fighting Rachel was still kind of terrifying. “Not even a little.”

Jake was facing Ax, who gave him a small bow by inclining his head toward him and lowering his stalk eyes. Jake did his best to return the gesture. He nodded back at Rachel and Cassie and then orange fur rippled over his skin. Rachel grinned back at Cassie until her face exploded out, long and grey and leathery. Cassie began to grow, her bones shifting and grinding inside her. Powerful muscles replaced her own, but even those were dwarfed by Rachel’s enormity.

‹Horse, Cassie? Really?› Rachel said.

Cassie pawed at the ground with her hoof, her morph finished before anyone else’s. ‹What else should I have done, Rachel? One wolf against an elephant isn’t exactly a fair fight either.›

What had been a spacious clearing was suddenly laughably tiny for an elephant, a horse, a tiger, and an alien who looked like he should never have been there in the first place. Cassie didn’t really have a strategy, but any strategy she could have had would be limited by the space available. Rachel wouldn’t like it if she just let her win, though.

“Now I wish I’d brought popcorn,” Marco said.

‹Okay, go,› Jake said.

With horse eyes, it was hard for Cassie to see very well. The horse felt nervous, though, with the huge elephant just a few feet away. With her limited color vision, Jake’s striped fur was almost impossible to distinguish from the forest behind him. That is, until he sprang at Ax. Then the horse could see him. And it was terrified. Fortunately, that fit perfectly with the only idea Cassie had. The horse took off. Cassie fought her instincts only so far as to keep herself in the clearing.

‹Hey!› Rachel yelled, struggling to turn sharply enough to keep Cassie in her sights. ‹Come back here!›

Even though she could feel her heart racing, Cassie had experienced the horse’s fear enough times at this point that she was able to stay in control. She kept running circles around Rachel. Rachel stomped around, occasionally turning back around to try to catch Cassie as she passed.

‹I don’t think this is what Ax had in mind!› Rachel shouted. She was laughing, but Cassie could hear genuine frustration too. Rachel had thought this was going to be easy. ‹Ugh!›

Cassie braced herself. Rachel made that sound when she couldn’t get a store to take her coupon and she had to pay full price. She made that sound when older guys whistled at her from across the street. She made that sound when she was surrounded by Hork-Bajir and there was no way out but through.

Rachel’s brick wall of a body slammed into Cassie. She was thrown off her feet, falling onto her side. Panicked, the horse kicked her legs like a beetle turned onto its back, trying to get back on her feet. Cassie started demorphing, and quickly stopped struggling.

She stood up and brushed off her bike shorts just as Jake was also finishing demorphing. She hadn’t been able to pay attention to his match, but inevitably, Ax had won. Without teeth and claws, a tiger was still ridiculously powerful, but Ax was a trained fighter and his tail was lightning fast.

Jake and Cassie joined Marco on his rock, sitting on either side of him. Marco elbowed Jake in the ribs. “You know I wouldn’t have bet on Cassie’s Mr. Ed being more entertaining than your Tony the Tiger, but here we are.” Jake lightly shoved Marco, who pitched himself over toward Cassie and laid his head on her shoulder. He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes. “He’s cruel to me, you know.”

“And you’ve never done anything to deserve it,” Cassie said. Even though it was just Marco and he was just joking around, her face and neck were warm. She pointedly didn’t look over at Jake.

“I know!” Marco straightened up and turned back to Rachel and Ax.

Rachel was still an elephant. They were facing each other, pacing circles like some kind of cowboy movie. Ax’s haunches were coiled and his front half was low to the ground. His tail was held in striking position. Rachel lowered her head.

“Go, Rachel!” Marco whooped. “Show him the biggest thing on Earth! Your credit card balance!”

Rachel whipped her trunk out toward Ax, who parried it with his tail blade. He dodged left, but that was just a distraction, and darted out to Rachel’s right instead. Again, she was slow to turn back around and Ax whacked at her with a few blows from the blunt edge of his blade. They just bounced off her thick hide, though. She didn’t even seem to feel it.

Ax continued to have the upper hand, strategically. It was easy to see that if he’d been able to use his blade, the fight would have been over. As it was, he continued to weave back and forth around Rachel. Was he hoping to outlast her? Cassie knew elephants had massive endurance. If Ax was going to try to tire her out, he’d just exhaust her morph time. That didn’t seem like much of a win.

Rachel was getting obviously impatient, though. Cassie had already made her tired of this game. Overtaken by her anger when Ax feinted one way and leapt the other for what seemed the thousandth time, Rachel growled then trumpeted loudly. Ax stopped, seemingly shocked and shook his head at the loud sound. In his moment of hesitation, Rachel whipped her trunk around his lower body and lifted him up off the ground.

Ax flailed in her grip, beating Rachel about the face with the flat of his blade but she only lifted him up higher. ‹Hah!› she laughed, drunk on adrenaline and anger and victory in that glorious way that only Rachel could pull off.

‹Please, let me down! You are the victor!› Ax said.

‹You bet your fluffy alien ass I am,› Rachel said, setting him down with the elephant’s surprising delicacy.

While Rachel demorphed, Ax used his tail blade to brush his fur back into place. When Rachel was back in her own body, she held her hand out to Ax for a handshake. Ax looked down at it, then back up at her. Instead of taking her hand, he bowed his head. ‹Thank you for the sparring match. I will not underestimate Earth creatures again.›

Rachel planted her hands on her hips. “Yeah, Andalites are pretty cool too.”

Cassie stood and went back over to the two of them. “How was that, Ax? You feel more comfortable with us?”

‹I am not sure,› Ax admitted. ‹But I do think I am ready to attempt to learn more about human culture. Can we go back to the shopping and eating facility you called ‘the mall’?›

“Yeah, definitely,” Cassie said, smiling. “Who else is up for it?”

Marco and Jake stood and brushed themselves off, making agreeable noises. They made their way back toward the barn where they’d stashed their clothes.

“Hey Ax,” Rachel said. “When we get to the mall, let’s do a traditional human test of strength.”

‹I am intrigued,› Ax said.

“It’s called arm wrestling.”


End file.
